DRIVING THE DAY

BRACE FOR COMMONS SHOWDOWN: Opposition parties are howling after the government slipped out plans last night to award itself a majority on all law-making committees. A special motion will be debated at the end of the normal Commons session on Tuesday night that would rewrite the parliamentary rulebook to give the Tories a majority on the obscure but important Committee of Selection. Paul Waugh in HuffPost and Rob Merrick in the Indy got the scoop.

Why it matters: The Committee of Selection decides which MPs sit on the crucial legislative committees that will agree thousands of law changes needed to deliver Brexit. Its political make-up is usually based on the last general election result. But without a majority of MPs, the government would struggle to get any real work done.

Big deal? A senior Labour official told Playbook last night it was “no exaggeration to say that this is going to be the biggest vote of this parliament.” Cabinet ministers have been cancelling events. Every Tory MP is on a strict three-line whip.

Remember: May will only get this proposal through with the help of the DUP. And she will need all her own MPs on side too.

Great timing: Unfortunately the prime minister is currently battling to keep control of her own party. The angry letter from a group of hardline Euroskeptics which leaked yesterday makes the Times splash, with Deputy Political Editor Sam Coates suggesting Brexit Minister Steve Baker and Tory aide Suella Fernandes could be disciplined for their involvement.

Double trouble: It came on the same day May faced attacks from pro-European Tories over her EU (Withdrawal) Bill. Steve Hawkes in the Sun puts it nicely — “May is caught between two Tory rebellions.”

One big takeaway: Life is complicated when you’re a prime minister without a majority.

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: Lloyds Banking Group is helping Britain prosper. We are committed to helping Britain build, trade and grow. Find out more by visiting www.lloydsbankinggroup.com.**

ELECTION REFLECTIONS

TIME FLIES: It is three months today since Britain went to the polls in the election that didn’t quite go to plan. During the summer Playbook was the only news outlet at a small public event hosted by Jeremy Corbyn’s election coordinator Andrew Gwynne. The Denton and Reddish MP spoke candidly for an hour about the extraordinary campaign — and where Labour goes from here.

Five takeaways

LABOUR EXPECTED TO LOSE BADLY: Party chiefs were braced for total wipe-out after May called the snap election. Gwynne feared 125 MPs could go — more than half the entire parliamentary party. Gwynne was even told by Labour’s polling experts he may lose his own seat, despite holding a majority of more than 10,000.

On hearing there would be an election: “I’d like to say my initial reaction was calm and collected. But actually it was more like a scene from Dad’s Army.”

On hearing he could lose his seat: “They could see the blood drain from my face.”

WHAT WENT RIGHT: Corbyn’s rallies; the leaked manifesto; Labour’s use of digital campaign tools; engagement of young voters; and May’s decision to duck the TV debates.

Not in the playbook: “It was not in the grid to leak the Labour manifesto. And the reaction of everybody in that room was not good. We stayed up until 2 a.m. trying to work out how we were going to deal with this.”

TV debates: “I just thought, we’ve got nothing to lose. It didn’t matter how hostile the audience is — and I said this to Jeremy in a text — it’s never going to be as hostile as a Monday night in committee room 14 with the PLP.”

Anti-Semitism: “It probably cost us an additional three seats in North London that we came very, very close to winning.”

Press war: “The print media in particular have been vitriolic about Jeremy for the past two years… But I think the difference the election campaign has is … that unbiased TV media started to come through. I think it did shift people’s opinions.”

Party self-sabotage: “At the end of the day, if everybody says your leader is shit, why should everyone vote for your leader to be prime minister?”

NEXT TIME AROUND: Gwynne revealed Labour has its eyes on a target list of 75 “winnable” seats, including 17 in Scotland.

How they’ll do it: “We have a full-on campaign to keep fighting in those constituencies. And we will be using every parliamentary procedure at our disposal to tie down not just the Tories but the SNP in Westminster, and give the best fighting chance for our candidates in those constituencies we need to win.”

DOUBTS REMAIN: An audience member asked if Corbyn’s heroic image among supporters could be sustained if he became prime minister.

Long pause from Gwynne: “That … will be interesting to see. I think it is sustainable. Where it unraveled for Nick Clegg was when he was in government and having to make those tough choices … That will be Jeremy’s challenge.”

UPDATE FROM THE CARIBBEAN

STORM IRMA: “Heartbroken” British Virgin Islands Governor Gus Jaspert has delivered a recorded message to the territory after Hurricane Irma, warning of casualties and fatalities. BBC video report here. Jaspert will be on the Today program at 7.10 a.m.

Florida braced: Residents have been told they face a “potentially deadly situation.” Latest on the Guardian live blog here.

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

PAISLEY V THE TELEGRAPH: DUP MP Ian Paisley Jnr has referred himself to the parliamentary watchdog after the Daily Telegraph splashed allegations that he failed to declare gifts from a foreign government. He responded on Twitter last night: “The Daily Telegraph article is defamatory. It is devoid of fact or logic. Referred to my lawyer… I will refer myself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.”

LAMMY REVIEW: Labour MP David Lammy’s review into race and justice makes most papers today, despite having been heavily trailed throughout the week. The Guardian splashes its findings on “racial bias” in British courts here. Lammy is on the Today program at 8.10 a.m.

SUNLIT UPLANDS? The Office for National Statistics releases manufacturing, industrial output and trade figures at 9.30 a.m. All will be viewed through the prism of Brexit.

CARRY ON CAMPAIGNING: Nigel Farage is in Berlin to address supporters of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, two weeks ahead of the general election. The former UKIP leader was invited by the AfD’s deputy leader Beatrix von Storch, a fellow MEP. Von Storch and Farage will meet journalists for a joint press conference at 2 p.m. U.K time; his speech is scheduled for 3 p.m.

MEANWHILE IN BRUSSELS

HOF CHAT: The European Parliament’s Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt agreed to a quick email Q&A with POLITICO on Wednesday night. He used it to urge Theresa May to “stop prevaricating” and said — unsurprisingly — Britain would be better off staying inside the single market and customs union. And he warned the EU Parliament “will insist” on Britain making an improved offer for EU migrants’ rights.

Remember: The EU Parliament has a veto on any final Brexit deal.

Three quick highlights:

POLITICO: In which areas are you concerned the current British proposals do not go far enough to win the support of the EU Parliament?

HOF: Brexiteers promised during the referendum campaign that EU citizens in the U.K. would be treated “no less favorably” than they are now. So far, the UK Parliament has not kept this promise, but the EU Parliament will insist on it.

POLITICO: What change of course do you think would improve the U.K.’s chances of securing a Brexit deal?

HOF: The European Parliament’s position argues the most optimal solution would be for the U.K. to remain in the EU customs union and the single market — which Britain helped to create. I would urge the U.K. government to stop prevaricating and engage on the issues relating to the withdrawal agreement; much time has been wasted already.”

POLITICO: Are there ways in which the U.K. leaving the EU could be good for the remaining EU27?

HOF: Brexit and the election of Donald Trump have enhanced support for the European Union in the remaining EU states. The domino effect of far-right populism hoped for by some Brexiteers has so far failed to materialize. There is no room for complacency, but there is some evidence we are witnessing an “EU fightback,” in part thanks to the Brexit decision.

THIS WEEKEND

ANTI-BREXIT RALLY: Thousands will gather in central London on Park Lane at 11 a.m. tomorrow for a pro-EU protest march. Crowds will march through Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall to Parliament Square.

TUC: The annual four-day Trade Union Congress kicks off in Brighton on Sunday. There is a Brexit debate on Sunday night. Jeremy Corbyn will make his speech on Tuesday.

PICK OF TODAY’S MOGG-ARY

Key line — “These are odd times in British politics and it is conceivable that a Corbynism of the right could emerge in which the Tory members act in a way which looks, from the outside, suspiciously like a loss of marbles.”

BEYOND THE M25

SECOND CITY BLUES: Homelessness remains a major problem in Manchester despite the city’s flourishing economy. Jen Williams and Chris Slater continue this excellent series in the Manchester Evening News. Tough reading.

From Berlin

WISHFUL THINKING: Brits hoping Angela Merkel will help secure a better Brexit deal once her general election is out of the way are in for a shock, warns Christian Odendahl, chief economist and Berlin representative at the Centre for European Reform.

And from Oslo

LABOUR PAIN: The Norwegian Labour Party is bravely going into next week’s general election with a pledge to raise income tax, POLITICO’s John Acher reports. And the approach seems to be working — with the Labour-led bloc neck and neck with Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s Conservatives. The vote is on Monday.

LONDON CALLING

Westminster weather: ☔️☔️☔️ Showers throughout the day. Bring a brolly.

Something for the weekend: “Ink,” the critically-acclaimed play about a young Rupert Murdoch’s arrival at the Sun, transfers to the West End tomorrow after its sell-out run at the Almeida. Tickets for the new run at the Duke of York’s theatre in Covent Garden are available here.

Opening tonight: “Nature of the Beast,” the new feature-length biopic of parliament’s oldest MP Dennis Skinner. Tagline: “Man is a political animal.” It was funded by a £20,000 Kickstarter campaign.

Labour of love: Playbook saw a press screening of the movie last week, and it is a real labor of love for director Daniel Draper. There are extensive interviews with Skinner, who remains articulate and passionate at 85 but the film’s best moments feature his four gruff elderly brothers reminiscing around the kitchen table in Derbyshire.

Be warned: This is an unashamed love letter to Skinner and his often abrasive brand of socialist politics. Old lefties and political nostalgia junkies will enjoy it. Others may not. And the soundtrack is turgid.

Just landed from Trumpland: The White House may have been turned upside down this year but the U.S. Embassy still throws all the best parties. Ten days after starting work, Trump’s new man in London — New York Jets owner, billionaire Woody Johnson — met the U.K. press last night for a glass of bubbly at Grosvenor Square. Whiskey was also served (though few were drinking it) at the “off-the-record, on-the-rocks” party co-hosted by newly-arrived Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Courtney Austrian and Director of Press Matt Goshko.

Remembering: Long-serving ex-Tory MP Edward Du Cann, deemed one of parliament’s great operators, who died this week. Lovely line in the Times diary: “Alan Watkins, the political columnist, once wrote that talking to Du Cann was like walking downstairs and missing the last step: ‘You were uninjured, but disconcerted.'”

PLAYBOOK COULDN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT Kate Day.

THANKS to Tom McTague, Charlie Cooper and Annabelle Dickson.

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: Lloyds Banking Group is helping Britain prosper. We are committed to helping Britain build, trade and grow. Build: Lending up to £10 billion to help people move into their first home in 2017. Trade: Committed to increasing our business lending by up to £2 billion in 2017. Grow: Aiming to create over 8,000 apprenticeships with permanent employment by 2020. Find out more by visiting www.lloydsbankinggroup.com.**